Visual QuickStart Guide [Electronic resources] : Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger

The Dock

The Dock (Figure 62 ) offers easy access to often-used applications and documents, as well as minimized windows.

Figure 62. The Dock displays often-used applications and documents.

Chapter 6 explains how.

To identify items in the Dock

Point to the item. The name of the item appears above the Dock (Figure 63 ).

Figure 63. Point to an icon to see what it represents.

To identify items in the Dock that are running

Look at the Dock. A triangle appears beneath each item that is running, such as the Finder in

Figures 62, 63 , and

64 .

Figure 64. An item's icon bounces while it is being opened.

To open an item in the Dock

Click the icon for the item you want to open. One of four things happens:

If the icon is for an application that is running, the application becomes the active application.

If the icon is for an application that is not running, the application launches. While the application launches, the icon in the Dock bounces (Figure 64 ) so you know something is happening.

If the icon is for a minimized window, the window is displayed.

If the icon is for a document that is not open, the application that created the document launches (if necessary) and the document opens.

Chapter 7 ; minimizing and displaying windows is discussed earlier in this chapter.